This invention relates generally to training potties. It also concerns a urinal device for use in training male toddlers to urinate while standing. Conventional training potties are designed to be used by both male and female toddlers in the seated position. They are typically lightweight and portable and plumbing free, having a base, an a seat for sitting, and a waste-receiving pot aligned beneath the opening in the seat providing access to the pot for elimination waste. Since traditionally potties were designed for male and female toddlers to use in the sitting position, their unisex design has not properly met the potty training needs of male toddlers. Since it is difficult for a male toddler to direct his urine into the potty from a seated position, a urine guard is added to the front edge of the seat's opening. The purpose of this urine shield is to deflect the stream of urine into the training potty's pot, but most urine shields are not effective. Traditionally male adults do not urinate sitting down, conventional potty training devices fail to train male toddlers to urinate the way they will be expected to as adults.
Traditionally potty chairs were designed for male and female toddlers to use in the sitting position. Their unisex design has been unaccommodating of male toddlers. These types of potty chair designs ignored the need of training young male toddlers to stand while urinating. Attempts were made by industry to help male toddlers by designing urinals for them. Attempts were also made to solve this problem by combining the potty chair and urinal into one toilet training device. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,000,943 issued to loretta Dawson for “Training Urinal and Commode,” and in U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,020 issued to David G. Lewandoski and Edward Guard for “Urinal For Convience And Training Juvenile Males.” Another example is in U.S. Pat. No. 5,388,279 issued to Estelle B. Rasmussen.
Conventional potty training devices for male and females toddlers have ignored the need for training males to urinate in the standing position. Potty training devices for young male toddlers i.e. urinals, were designed in an attempt to meet this need, but they also created a need for parents with both male and female toddlers to buy two separate potty training devices, which is an added expense. There have been potty training devices that were designed to act as a potty training device for both male and female toddlers that also included a stand-up urinals for male toddlers, but some of them were un-sanitary due to the fact that the user often came in contact with the urine and were difficult to clean. Another problem was that some were complicated in design and expensive to make.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide an improved training potty that encourages and facilitates its use by male toddlers who are learning to urinate while standing.
It is another object of the invention to provide an improved training potty that can be easily converted to a urinal for training male toddlers.
It is another object of the invention to provide a urinal that needs no plumbing, and able to be easily emptied of waste.
It is another object of the invention to provide an improved training potty that still may be used conventionally by male and female toddlers to relieve themselves while seated.
It is another object of the invention to an improved training potty that is inexpensive to manufacture, easily operated, hygienic, and virtually maintenance-free.